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Hacked-up Altec 1202a MI speakers

gonzothegreat

gonzothegreat

Super Member
Found these locally cheap and I knew they had been messed with because the original metal dustcap woofers weren't visible through the cloth.

The horns are 811 with an 807z driver. The woofers appear to be generic 15" MI drivers. No idea on the xover but the two speaker jacks seem to suggest biamping.

Now for the questions...

Since the 1202a was more of a MI than hifi speaker, is the 807 just a minor variation of the more desirable hifi drivers or is it more complicated?

Can anyone ID the woofer or the xover? No model numbers or ID marks on either.

Sometime this week I"ll hopefully have a chance to drag an amp out to the storage locker where they're hiding.
 

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The drivers look like they almost might be EV? Even if not, I'd say decent ones with the rear venting..
 
It looks like someone did a seriously good job with those.

Figure them out, and I'll bet they're excellent for their intended purpose.... :yes:
 
spartanmanor said:
Those crossovers look DIY in my opinion. How do they sound?
Click to expand...

My gut says the XO is off-the-rack. It came from a local school and the board layout looks too clean to be homebrew (right angles on inductors, terminals on inputs & outputs, etc).

No idea on the sound as I've been out of town all weekend and I don't have a portable amp to give them a test run.

As for the woofer, it looks like it has decent power handling but who knows if it has enough midrange response to avoid a huge response hole.
 
gonzothegreat said:
As for the woofer, it looks like it has decent power handling but who knows if the woofer has enough midrange response to avoid a huge response hole.
Click to expand...

Best way to find out is plug them in and listen... I always do that before posting anything about what I scored....
 
similost said:
Best way to find out is plug them in and listen... I always do that before posting anything about what I scored....
Click to expand...

Admittedly this is the final verdict but I wanted to see if AKers had any ideas on the hacks. I've learned the hard way 99% of speaker mods (some by my own hand...don't ask) result in lowered performance or in extreme cases a dead amp.

Besides I don't want to make a driver killing mistake with a pair of Altecs (provided the previous owner didn't already nuke the 807 VCs).

I really should buy a PE T amp for times like this...
 
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